On the 17th of May 2013, Russian TV, the UK Guardian and other media agencies reported on the publishing of a horrific video showing several boys under the age of ten, beaten with a belt and kicked by two teenage caretakers in a Russian orphanage. The appalling incident happened in the Mazanovsky orphanage in the region of Amur.
According to an anonymous member at the orphanage, the institution’s administrators were aware of the systematic abuse of children under their supervision and yet no action was taken to end this culture of abuse. According to Russian Ombudsman for Children’s Rights Pavel Astakhov, there was at least six proven episodes of child torture in the orphanage which had been ignored by its supervisors. The neglect, abandonment, or torture of children in Russian orphanages is common place and well-documented. In April 2013, two nurses in an orphanage in the Khabarovsky region of the country were charged with the severe beating of a three year old and a ten month old baby, as well as with placing a seven month old boy in a plastic container to silence him. This heinous abuse of children is a damning indictment of not only the perpetrators of these crimes or the management of these orphanages but also the regional and state authorities of Russia, whose secular system has utterly failed to protect the most vulnerable and powerless of Russian society. It is a shameful legacy that has not changed one iota since its Soviet days – highlighting how communism and secularism are equally inept in protecting the rights of children and orphans. Such abuse and failure to protect the wellbeing of children is replicated and at epidemic proportions under secular systems across the world. In recent months, the UK has been rocked with numerous scandals involving the systematic abuse and rape of children, including in 18 care homes in North Wales spanning over three decades. In addition, local authorities in various towns of the country have been condemned for failing to protect young vulnerable girls from exploitation by predatory paedophile rings. This systematic oppression of vulnerable children, is a product of secularism that promotes individuals to pursue and act on their desires rather than Allah سبحانه وتعالى’s system and according to His سبحانه وتعالى’s Commands; whilst the failure of authorities to safeguard them demonstrates the secular system’s corruption and low value in which the secular regime is based upon that made child protection and welfare of its lowest concerns and priorities.
O Muslims! All this is ample proof that the secular system can never secure a safe society for the children, orphans, and vulnerable of our Muslim lands. Rather it is the Khilafah implementing the Islamic laws alone that will ensure that they are protected, sufficiently provided for, and treated with the mercy, kindness, and honour they deserve and that Islam obliges. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
ليس منا من لم يرحم صغيرنا ، ويعرف حق كبيرنا
“He is not of us, (the one) who does not have mercy on our young children, nor honour our elderly.”
It is the promotion of the Islamic values by the Khilafah system that not only nurtures taqwa within society that ensures Muslims treat the vulnerable with care and accountability but also builds the Islamic mindset that shuns the mistreatment of orphans in accordance to the Words of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and embraces the kind conduct towards orphans and children as exemplified by the actions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم who never hit a woman, child, or even an animal. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says,
أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّينِ * فَذَلِكَ الَّذِي يَدُعُّ الْيَتِيمَ
“Have you seen him who denies the deen? He is the one who harshly rebuffs the orphan”
(Al-Maun, 107:1-2)
Furthermore, the Islamic social system ensures the preservation of chastity and hence the integrity of marriage and the family unit such that children are brought up by their mother and father in a loving and harmonious relationship rather than being unwanted and abandoned into orphanages or care homes as a result of illicit relationships. Alongside this, the Khilafah fosters the Islamic principles within its people such that parents, relatives, and the community understand that they bear primary responsibility for the protection, guardianship, and financial maintenance of children or orphans, minimising the need for orphanages, as well as punishing harshly those who abuse children or neglect their rights. And in obedience to Islamic rulings, the Khilafah also places guaranteeing the welfare of orphans and guardianship with utmost care of those who have no provider, as one of the vital obligations of the state.
O Muslims! We call upon you to work seriously with Hizb ut Tahrir to establish the Khilafah system for it is the only system able to provide the protection, security and safety for you and your children.
Women’s Section in The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
Wednesday 12 Rajab 1434 AH
22-05-2013 CE
Issue No : 1434 AH /52